DH say the chickens have to go....

We are having a hard time keeping the chickens out of the barn. They are pooping in the cow water bowls...not acceptable.
I hate the thought of losing my farm fresh eggs, but unless I can think of a way to keep them out, theyve gotta go.
Anyone have any ideas on how to keep them out??? Any help much appriciated!!
Mary F.

Why not build them an enclosed chicken run, or better yet a chicken tractor that you can move around? Do they already have their own coop? Just add on. Then they won't have access to the barn and the problem is solved. :clap:

We are having a hard time keeping the chickens out of the barn. They are pooping in the cow water bowls...not acceptable.
I hate the thought of losing my farm fresh eggs, but unless I can think of a way to keep them out, theyve gotta go.
Anyone have any ideas on how to keep them out??? Any help much appriciated!!
Mary F.

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I have the same problem here. We would like to free-range our chickens, but "free-range" is a little too free!! So we will be putting them in a run for the winter and hopefully have a large run for them by spring so that it will be somewhat free-range. I just can't have chickens in my goat hay, roosting in my goat barn, pooping in the water tubs, etc. The goats and cows are more important to our livelyhood than the chickens are so the chickens will be sacrificed for the health of our goat and cow herds. Wish I had good ideas for you.

Am not sure why there's a problem there. We have free range chickens and they roam all over. We also have sheep, cows, turkeys, ducks, and guineas. They all cohabitate and no one poops in the cow's water trough. It's one of those huge rubbermaid things that's about 30 inches high. The ducks get everything muddy and make a huge mess, but they are all fine together. Our chickens know where they're supposed to roost at night and when it's dusk, they head that way and we lock them up at night. The ducks also have their own spot and head there, etc, etc. I think our sheep could even be free ranged and they'd co exist just fine.....

If you keep the chickens locked up in their area for 2 weeks or so, they will know enough to go back there for bedtime. Worked for us!

Yeah, and thats why we raise our own meat!! Its a problem because after the poultry are finished pooping, scratching through and generally messing up the hay, the goats won't touch it. It is a problem here, and so the chickens will be in a large run.

Hi Mary,
When dealing with several different types of livestock it can be a matter of arrangeing and rearrangeing things until you get a good compromise.

I milk cows, keep pigs, run sheep, chooks, a goose, a duck, not to mention the wildlife that homes in for a free feed as well. I've finally got most of it worked out so that nothing is encroaching on anything else. The only thing I can't get sorted is the wild Pukes and my duck will persist in swimming in the old bath I use for a trough just outside the cowshed and consequently fouling it. However, it is easy enough to empty and refill with the hose.

My hens live in a moveable arc (I think you call it a tractor). I used to let them out in the early afternoon but the sods eventually found their way up to the house and there went my flower and vegetable gardens. So now I let them out about 3.30 pm when I'm on my way to feed the pigs and milk the cows. They have unfortunately found the cow shed and feed shed but are not there long enough to cause any problems. They follow me when I go to feed the pigs then follow me back and scratch around in the yard while I milk the cows. The door to the feed shed is shut so they can't get in there. I put the cows away, call the chooks and they follow me back to their arc to be fed and they are locked up until the following day.

So, following along the lines of previous posts, look at shutting your chooks up for a large part of the day and I think you will find that you can have both fresh eggs and fresh milk without too much hassle.